In WWE, Sex Sells. What Happens When Their Wrestlers Get Into OnlyFans?

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When she's not being body slammed into a field of thumbtacks, having wooden skewers impaled on her head, or getting her body wrapped in barbed wire, Charli Evans takes photos. Her Instagram is laced with pictures of her in leather lingerie sets, lying on hotel beds, and videos of her lounging poolside in leopard print bikinis and six inch stilettos. It’s not surprising. After all, she’s a deathmatch wrestler and an OnlyFans creator.

And she’s not the only wrestler who’s been getting behind the camera.

Former WWE NXT Women’s Champion, Mandy Rose, juggled her responsibilities as NXT’s top dog with content creation outside the ring, including posting explicit adult content on FanTime, a content site similar to the ubiquitous OnlyFans. Rising star and former WWE main roster member, Zelina Vega, has also opened up an OnlyFans account where she would post cosplay, lingerie and swimsuit photoshoots to her fans. 

Two years ago, Vega was fired (less than six months later, she was rehired and WWE issued her an apology). Last month, Rose suffered the same fate. 

Sexuality and the WWE have been inexplicably intertwined since its birth. The Attitude Era — the period of the WWF (now known as the WWE) between 1997 and 2002, often nostalgically praised for its production of adult, raunchy content — was a conduit for the pubescent sexual awakening of an entire generation. The fruits of that era are well documented. 

There were live sex celebrations: wrestling star, Edge, and his onscreen girlfriend, Lita, hopping into a giant fluffy bed in the middle of the ring, simulating sex to celebrate his new title win. RAW General Manager, Eric Bischoff, “gifted” us with HLA (hot lesbian action), where two nameless women made out with each other in the ring (until they were attacked by two huge Samoan men). There have been innumerable bikini contests. Bra and panties matches The Katie Vick debacle — a necrophilia-inspired storyline where wrestler,Triple H (now WWE's Chief Content Officer), pretended to have sex with a dead woman in a casket (and that’s just the half of it).

"Not even you would know how far I would degrade myself for the right cause,” WWE wrestler, Trish Stratus, said on stage in 2001, right after Chairman Vince McMahon, in character, forced her to crawl on the ground, bark like a dog, and strip down to her underwear.

For decades, sex was something WWE relied on and the blood and guts of their product. Every week, millions of teenagers and grown men would tune in to see women take off each others’ clothes in bra and panties matches, or be thrown into mud pits to fight it out for the most screen time. Some of the women even shaved their heads in exchange for more time in the ring. Women were doing whatever they had to do on screen in the pursuit of finally “making it”. 

But after decades, WWE became sentient, constructing open heart surgery on their own product, realising what was making them terminally ill: Sex. 

In an attempt to clean up their image, vast improvements were made in how women were represented on-screen and treated within the company in the mid to late 2010s. The first all-female tournament in WWE history was held in 2017. In 2018, the first all-women pay-per-view premiered, dubbed “Evolution”. Today, the WWE universe features five belts dedicated to the women’s division. Women have forced their way into the ring in realms only men formerly occupied — now, they’re busting their heads open in bloody steel cage matches, throwing themselves off ten foot ladders, catapulting themselves through tables, and piercing their bodies with thumbtacks. Gone are the days where they fight and claw for three minutes of screentime. They’re main eventing Wrestlemania, the Christmas of professional wrestling. At first glance, it would seem their historic mistreatment of women was a misfortunate feature of the past, nothing more than a product of its time.

But there’s far more bubbling beneath the surface. Wrestling and sexual exploitation have always gone hand-in-hand, and it’s proved hard to shake that legacy, despite continued attempts. In the eyes of some female wrestlers, WWE hadn’t even tried.

After launching her OnlyFans during the pandemic in an attempt to still earn income amidst lockdowns, Charli Evans is proud to be one of the first women in wrestling to post adult content on the site. She’s now a full-time professional wrestler, and a full-time content creator, and told VICE that her work as an independent professional wrestler gives her the power to make her own decisions. 

“To be able to offer a service to my fans where they can interact and get extra content, buy merch, and support me, is amazing,” she said. 

“Unfortunately, women in professional wrestling have always been sexualised. I saw OnlyFans as a way to take my own power back and be able to share myself in a way that I am comfortable with.” 

Evans isn’t the only female wrestler that’s thinking this way. The shift in who owns sexuality has rippled through the wrestling world — and the WWE universe — as of late. While OnlyFans has historically been used by women wrestlers, since it’s establishment as a viable — and business savvy — way to enhance their careers in the ring, even some male wrestlers have jumped on board, including former WWE main roster member, Enzo Amore.  This is why Mandy Rose’s recent release, off the back of long reign as face of the NXT brand and champion, was so contentious.

While WWE hasn’t released an official statement outlining why Rose was released, there has been heavy speculation. Whispers have emerged from professional wrestling media outlet, and notorious scoop-hunters, FightFul.com, revealing "WWE officials felt they were put in a tough position based on the content she was posting. They felt like it was outside of the parameters of her WWE deal." 

Similarly, noted industry gossip Dave Meltzer, a man who has reported seriously on pro wrestling for decades, has backed these reports, saying that as soon as officials became aware of the “stuff she’s been putting on her subscription service”, the immediate reaction was “we have to get the title off her immediately”. And while wrestling journalism is often just thinly veiled TMZ-coded gossip, it does shed a small light on the motivations behind Rose’s release.

In a recent interview with the American talk show, Tamron Hall Show, Rose revealed that even she wasn't explicitly told if her release was linked to what she posted, but maintained that there was nothing wrong with what she was posting. "Everything that I do in the privacy of my own home, showing my fans... my everyday personal life, you know, nothing's wrong with that," she said. 

While it isn’t clear if Rose was fired because of the explicit nature of her content, or because of a new WWE policy that prohibited supplemental income streams, both approaches lend themselves to criticism. Even Former WWE Hall of Famer, Madusa, aka Alundra Blayze, quipped back to Rose's release. "Guys get warnings in this business," implying that the women, especially those with accounts like OnlyFans, don't. Like a narcissistic parent berating a toddler, WWE’s shame spiral is in full swing. We’re fine with you parading your body. But don’t you dare try and independently profit off it. 

In their quest for family-friendly entertainment, the WWE has become out of touch with the industry that they have built and stoked over the years. 

And the smoke can be seen in Australia. 

One of Australia’s most well-known female wrestlers, Shazza McKenzie, also produces adult content — sexy photosets and videos featuring lingerie and bikinis — on BrandArmy, a content creation platform used by multiple wrestlers, including WWE alumni Cassie Lee (Peyton Royce) and Jessica McKay (Billie Kay). “It provides me with a somewhat steady income that I am in complete control of,” McKenzie told VICE. “My content creation is successful because of my wrestling, and vice versa.”

And this is the problem that the WWE seem desperate to erase: many fans dream of seeing female wrestlers naked because the WWE has taught them that they’re objectified eye candy. Now, women have become much more savvy, utilising a horny audience to sell their worn wrestling gear, their signed bikini photos, and yes, subscriptions to their OnlyFans. Female wrestlers have taken the baton, using their sexuality to profit — both in their bank accounts and in the ring — while still remaining in control. 

Make no mistake — WWE knows that sex sells. They knew it every time Mandy Rose strutted down to the ring to her company-approved, Coyote Ugly-esque stripper entrance. 

They knew it when they reposted a photo of her laying by the pool naked, covered only by WWE title belts. They knew it when they aired a segment featuring Rose stipping down to her underwear in an attempt to seduce a male wrestler. Sex sells, but only if the money is going into WWE’s wallet.